Monday, June 29, 2009

There was a pay-per-view MMA show last Saturday night that you might have missed. I only think the hardcore MMA fans knew about the Ultimate Chaos show in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The show was $29.95 on cable television, but you could pay $9.95 and watch online as well.

There were nine fights and some of them were good and interesting. Only the first fight between Danny Abaddi and James Orso went all three rounds and to a decision. The rest of the fights either ended in a submission or a knockout. Six of the fights ended in the first round.

The main event was between former WWE superstar, Bobby Lashley against Bob Sapp. Lashley quickly took Sapp to the ground and started to unload on Sapp's face. This happened for a few minutes until Sapp tapped. This was a very boring fight and a disappointment for the fans.

The co-main event between Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel was much more exciting as Yvel knocked out Rizzo in the first round.

Another exciting match was between Affliction owner Tom Atencio and Randy Hedderick. Atencio looked like he was down and out after a punch by Hedderick in the first round, but Atencio rebounded and recovered to win the fight after Hedderick's corner threw in the towel after the end of the second round.

This was a very good back-and-forth match and Atencio showed a lot of heart by coming back after getting knocked down in the first round.

Other winners on the main card included Brandon Harder, Orso, Waachiim Spiritwolf, Chris Horodecki. Javier Vazquez, and Colin McKee.

Overall, this was an average card with not a whole lot of star quality. Fans got to see a lot of fights, and some good knockouts and submissions. Would I pay for another Ultimate Chaos pay-per-view show?

I probably will if there is nothing else to watch on a Saturday night and watching a live MMA event is usually more exciting and better than watching old UFC fights on Spike TV.

This is nothing compared to the pushing and shoving at the UFC 99 weigh-ins last week in Germany, but these two fighters fighting tomorrow night on Showtime still show a lot of aggression during the staredown.

There are a lot of fans of the San Francisco Giants who can't seem to move on. They still miss Barry Bonds and it just hasn't been the same since Bonds has been off the Giants' roster.

You can consider me one of those fans. I used to go to about 10 to 15 home games a year when Bonds was patrolling left field. The ballpark was always filled with excitement during his time with the Giants. The crowd would especially get loud for Bonds' plate four or five plate appearances a game.

Fans did not dare go to the bathroom, or wait in line at the concession stand when Bonds was about to come up to the plate. Fans always knew when Bonds' turn was next.

I just can't say the same about any current Giants' player on the roster. You won't see me or anyone else skip buying garlic fries until Aaron Rowand has finished his at-bats. If I am be waiting in line for the bathroom, I won't worry about missing out on a Bengie Molina or Kevin Frandsen at-bat.

There won't be many fans with cameras when Nate Schierholtz or Juan Uribe come to the plate.

This 2009 roster is filled with boring players and not a whole lot of charisma. The Giants like to market Rowand as a "gamer" but I rather see a "star" like Bonds or Manny Ramirez than a so-called gamer.

Tickets are expensive and fans don't have a lot of disposable income these days.

I feel bad for the Giants' season ticketholders that have to sit through the boring and depressing games daily.

This team can't hit and does not score enough runs to help out their talented pitching staff. For example, their ace, Tim Lincecum, pitched a good game yesterday but gave up three runs in the 8th inning to the Angels.

The Giants lost 4-3 and you can blame the hitters for not scoring enough runs to support Lincecum. The night before that, they scored only one run against a rookie pitcher making his major league debut.

This team is no fun to watch. The fans in the Bay Area deserve a lot better and the product that the Giants organization is putting out this season is just horrendous.

You can probably fall asleep watching games this year. If you don't, you probably go to sleep at night very angry or depressed due to another late-inning collapse leading to another loss.

I went to Opening Day and that was my Closing Day also. I don't plan to go to any other games this season. I might stop by the ballpark to check out Manny Ramirez when the Dodgers come to town, or Ryan Howard and the Phillies, but you probably won't see me at 24 Willie Mays Plaza when the Giants take on the Padres, Rockies, or Diamondbacks.

This current roster is also not very likable. Barry Zito has pitched better but his better days are behind him. He was a great pitcher with the A's but his pitching has declined steadily through the years. He often seems indifferent about his pitching performances, and that has rubbed fans the wrong way.

Rowand is not a superstar either but he is also making superstar money. He might be a tough guy and a hard worker but fans get frustrated with him making key outs all the time, and striking out at balls in the dirt.

Fred Lewis was supposed to be a better player this year than last year but his defense in left field makes me long for the days of Bonds in the outfield. Lewis also strikes out a lot and when there are two strikes on him, I know that he will more than likely swing and miss for the third strike.

The manager, Bruce Bochy, often makes the wrong in-game decisions that costs his team a chance of winning games, and he is also a very boring manager. You won't mistaken him for a manager with charisma and fire like Lou Piniella or Dusty Baker. He makes me long for the days of Felipe Alou. I can't believe I just said that.

Brian Wilson, the closer, has his own reality show called "Life of Brian" and it is one of the worst shows I have seen on TV this year. I find his show boring but if you like to watch Wilson play air hockey, talk about food, and play video games like Guitar Hero, then this might be the show for you. B- Weezy, as he calls himself on the show, is more likable when he does not blow save opportunities and cost his team a chance to win.

The 2009 Giants team is committed to mediocrity. They have no shot of winning the NL West and they are lucky that they are in the wild card race.

They may win their fair share of games but they are still a boring and depressing team to watch.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The first fight is Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy. This has been a great fight so far and we are now going to the third round.

Dan Hardy wins by split decision. All three judges scored the fight 29-28. Davis had a few takedowns but Hardy was able to land a vicious knee and elbow to Davis in the match. The elbow and knee rocked Davis and Davis was a bloody mess after the elbow to his nose in the third round.

Davis seemed to be in position in the first round to win the fight after taking Hardy down and landing some good punches from the top.

Hardy tried to console Davis after UFC announcer Bruce Buffer announced the decision but Davis just waved him off. Hardy told Joe Rogan after the fight that he is not here to make friends but to find opponents.

The next fight is Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher. Uno is coming into the cage now and UFC middleweight contender Yushin Okami is in his corner.

This fight is not as exciting as the first fight on the pay-per-view. We are now in the second round and the crowd in Germany is booing.

Matt Pena, Fisher's coach, told Fisher not to pay attention to the crowd in between the first and second round.

I would give the first round to Fisher and the second round to Uno. Uno had some takedowns in the second round.

This fight will probably go to a decision. Fisher has shown good takedown defense throughtout the whole fight.

Uno is spending the whole fight trying to get a takedown while Fisher is trying to keep the fight standing up.

The third round was dominated by Uno. He took Fisher down and worked his ground and pound. He might have had a chance to finish the fight if not for the bell ringing to end the third round.

Uno should win this fight as I had him winning the last two rounds.

Wow, Fisher wins by unanimous decision! Are you kidding me?

Rogan did not even interview Fisher after the fight. Uno should have stayed in Japan instead of having to deal with such bad judging. This was just a terrible, terrible decision by all three judges.

Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders is next.

Not much action at all in the first round. The highlight of the round was Swick asking Saunders if he was going to hold him all night and Saunders replied by saying "Stand it up, bitch."

Swick wins by TKO in the second round. Swick was just too fast on the feet.

Swick thanks his mom and his wife after the fight. He said he wants to fight all the top fighters such as Matt Hughes, Thiago Alves, and GSP.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Mostapha Al-Turk is up next!

Al-Turk has a four inch reach advantage over Cro Cop.

Al-Turk came out aggressively but missed on a lot of his punches. Cro Cop was waiting to counter and delivered some punches himself. Al-Turk got poked in the eye and started to cover up and Cro Cop took advantage of this and rained down a few more punches before the ref stopped it.

I did not see the eye poke either so I can't blame the ref for not seeing it.

Cheick Kongo vs. Cain Velasquez is next.

Kongo just walked into the cage. He looks huge, mean, and scary looking. I would not want to fight him.

Velasquez is supposed to be a future superstar. This is the fight that I have been waiting for.

Mike Swick is in the corner of Velasquez. Velasquez recently became a proud father of a baby girl. I read in Fight! Magazine that he enjoys watching The Food Network and Dancing With The Stars with his girlfriend. He also enjoys Mexican music.

Velasquez just dominated Kongo in round one. This could be a 10-8 round for Velasquez.

Velasquez is just taking Kongo down over and over and over and over again.

If Rampage Jackson was here, he would say we have Brown on Black crime.

Velasquez wins by unanimous decision. Kongo showed a big heart by not giving up and being able to last all three rounds while taking a brutal pounding.

Kongo actually rocked Velasquez a few times early on in round one and two, but Velasquez was able to shake off the cobwebs and took Kongo down.

The main event between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva will be underway shortly.

Silva just made his way out to the cage and now Franklin is walking to the cage. Franklin is coming out to a rap song by Cypress Hill. This is a change for Franklin as far as entrance music goes.

After Swick defeated Saunders, he jumped out of the cage and shook hands with Dana White, and UFC owner Lorenzo Ferttita. He jumped back into the cage after that for the post-fight interview with Rogan.

Franklin is smiling as he walked into the cage. Will he still be smiling after this fight is over?

I might be wrong but I think this will be a very entertaining fight with a lot of back and forth action.

Franklin trained with Matt Hume in Seattle to prepare for this fight. He also trained in Los Angeles with UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva for eight days.

Silva and Franklin both traded punches and kicks until Silva caught Franklin's kick and took Franklin down.

The round just ended and I give the round to Franklin. Franklin just told his corner that he thinks he broke Silva's nose.

Franklin was on top of Silva in the end of the round and landed a lot of punches to Silva's face.

The second round was exciting. Silva rocked Franklin in this round with his right hand.

The third round was exciting as well and I don't know who the judges will award the fight to.

This was a stand-up war and a very good fight. These are two tough warriors.

Franklin is very happy as he wins by unanimous decision over Silva. Franklin was being interviewed by Rogan when he all of a sudden instructed one of the guys in his corner to do pushups. That was a pretty funny moment. Franklin is getting revenge for all the pain his trainers put him through in training camp.

Silva told the fans that his victory is having his fans happy and the crowd enjoying his fight with Franklin. The crowd cheers loudly for him.

Overall, this was a pretty good show. We have a new heavyweight title contender in Cain Velesquez, and a new welterweight contender in Mike Swick. Both train at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California.

The Davis vs. Hardy fight did not disappoint and neither did the main event.We also got to see the return of Cro Cop.

The next UFC show will be June 20 on Spike TV. The main event is between Clay Guida and Diego Sanchez.

Friday, June 12, 2009

I have bashed the UFC's fight cards and shows in the past. There are too many UFC shows with only a few good fights and match-ups. The card for UFC 99 tomorrow in Cologne, Germany is the exception.

Another gripe about UFC shows that I have is that there are too many fights that go to a decision. UFC 99 has a lot of exciting fighters on the card who know how to finish fights so we could see some explosive and exciting knockouts.

For fans buying the pay-per-view, the UFC is showing six fights instead of the usual five fights scheduled on the main card.

We get to see the return of Mirko Cro Cop and I know a lot of fans are still excited to see the former Pride veteran in the cage.

Besides Cro Cop, there are other stars and future stars fighting on Saturday including Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin, and Cain Velasquez.

The highly touted Velasquez has been proclaimed as a "perfect fighter" and the "heavyweight version of Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre" by his coaches and trainers at American Kickboxing Academy. His teammate, Jon Fitch, also had high praise for him and told me that Velasquez would be the UFC heavyweight champion one day.

His fight against Chieck Kongo is one fight I can't wait to watch. Is Velasquez for real or just hype? Kongo took this fight on short notice and only had three weeks to prepare. The winner could get a title shot in their next fight.

The main event is interesting because Franklin and Silva are both exciting fighters and this could be a stand-up war. Both need a win because they are both coming off losses.

We could see at least two more stand-up battles when Marcus Davis takes on Dan Hardy and Swick goes up against Ben Saunders.

Davis and Hardy seem to really hate each other and both have been talking trash for weeks. Swick and Saunders both say that the fight won't end in a decision and that someone is going to get knocked out.

UFC 99 also brings us the return of Caol Uno as he will be taking on Spencer Fisher in a lightweight match.

Six interesting match-ups tomorrow and I expect a lot of great fights. If you plan to order a UFC pay-per-view, this might be the one where you actually get your money's worth.

The UFC had their "Countdown to UFC 99" show earlier this week on Spike TV and here is a summary of the show if you missed it.

Wanderlei Silva said that when it comes to his fights, it does not matter if he wins or loses as long as the crowd enjoys the fight.

Rich Franklin is still angry that he lost his last fight by decision to Dan Henderson since he thought he won the fight. He got headbutted and eyepoked in the fight.

The show mentioned that Anderson Silva is angry that Wanderlei is going down to the middleweight division after his catch-weight fight with Franklin. Anderson might have to defend his title against Wanderlei if Wanderlei wins on Saturday.

These two were former friends at Chute Box in Brazil but Anderson left to start his own gym and he has blamed Wanderlei for him not getting fights when he was in Pride.

Wanderlei basically denied that accusation by saying he had no contact with the Pride matchmakers. Wanderlei said that Anderson is a good fighter but that Anderson is afraid of his punching power.

Anderson helped Franklin prepare for this upcoming fight with Wanderlei by working with Franklin for eight days.

Franklin said he is ready and that he wants to work his hands and wants to work his straight left or left kick against Wanderlei. He has been working in Seattle with his new trainer, Matt Hume.

Cheick Kongo is stepping in to replace Heath Herring against Cain Velasquaz in a heavyweight fight on Saturday. Kongo only had three weeks notice.

All the coaches at AKA(American Kickboxing Academy) praised Velasquaz and said he is the "perfect fighter."

AKA's Dave Camarillo said that he is the "heavyweight version of Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre.

Velasquaz could not find fights before he joined the UFC. Fighters would back out of fights and some would back out during the weigh-ins.

Mike Swick said that Ben Saunders is way in over his head and Saunders said he plans to take shots to give shots.

There was a brief mention of Mirko Cro Cop as well as he will be fighting on Saturday as well.

Joe Riggs had a 102 degree temperature coming into the fight against Phil Baroni. It was a very impressive performance by Riggs considering he was so ill.

Riggs wants to fight Jake Shields next. He was on TapouT Radio earlier this week and said that he really wants to expose Shields. Strikeforce should book this fight later this year.

Riggs also wanted everyone to know that he is represented by Trevor and Todd Lally and not Ken Pavia anymore. Riggs bashed Shields but saved his strongest vitriol for Pavia.

He called Pavia a "compulsive liar" and a "scumbag" and told a story about how Bob Cook from American Kickboxing Academy(AKA) threw Pavia to the ground and kicked and slapped him around.

Cook apparently did not appreciate Pavia trying to sign away some of the fighters from AKA.

Riggs also said that Nick Diaz had the punching power of a 13-year-old girl.

I have read a lot of articles by MMA writers and bloggers saying that Shields could fight Nick Diaz next. Come on guys, that will not happen. They are training partners and friends.

The chances of a Shields vs. Diaz fight happening is as good as Dana White lending Anderson Silva to Strikeforce for a future Strikeforce show.

Brett Rogers will probably get a title shot against Alistair Overeem on August 15 in San Jose, California. Rogers did not suffer any apparent injuries in his stunning knockout victory over Andrei Arlovski on Saturday.

Rogers was a heavy underdog in the fight and shocked a lot of fans with his quick win.

The winner of this fight could probably face a challenge from Fabricio Werdum.

Robbie Lawler's loss to Shields ruined the possibility of a Lawler vs. Cung Le fight in the near future. Shields might be a more difficult opponent for Le due to Shields' strong submission skills and ground game. Le has not been tested much on the ground so far in his MMA career.

By the way, a promoter mentioned to me about three years ago that he was close to signing Lawler and Shields to fight at a local show in the San Francisco Bay Area. I wonder who would have won if they fought back then.

Kevin "The Monster" Randleman may have lost by decision to Mike Whitehead but you can probably expect him to have a better performance in his future fights with Strikeforce. Randleman was coming off a long layoff in the cage.

Will we see Tito Ortiz fight later this year for Strikeforce? He should be making an announcement in a few months about his future.

Anderson Silva was at the Lawler vs. Shields card to support Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante in his fight against Mike Kyle. Kyle knocked out Cavalcante for the upset win. Silva was in San Francisco the week before to corner a fighter named Damoso Schubert in a fight against Eduardo Baiao at the World Combat Sports Challenge show.

With the loss to Kyle, Cavalcante is no longer the top contender for the Strikeforce Light Middleweight title held by Renato "Babalu' Sobral. These two fighters were supposed to fight for the title last Saturday night, but Babalu withdrew from the fight because his wife was pregnant and he wanted to spend time with his family.

Babalu will now fight August 1 at the Affliction show against Gegard Mousasi. The Strikeforce title will not be on the line.

Strikeforce's next show on Showtime will be June 19 in Washington. The main event will be Joey Villasenor vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. This event is a Strikeforce Challengers show which is a show filled with mostly up and coming fighters trying to make a name for themselves.

Miesha Tate's boyfriend, Bryan Caraway, will be fighting on the show. Tate is one of the most popular fighters in women's MMA.

The next big show for Strikeforce will be on August 15 at the HP Pavilion. Gina Carano finally signed with Strikeforce and is scheduled to fight Cyborg Santos for the first Strikeforce women's title, and Josh "The Punk" Thomson will defend his Strikeforce Lightweight belt against former champion, Gilbert Melendez in a rematch.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Saturday night's Strikeforce show on Showtime should be very exciting and action-packed. This is probably the best fight card held in North America so far this year.

Unlike the UFC shows which have usually only one or two good match-ups on the main card, Strikeforce is giving MMA fans a real treat by having the whole main card filled with intriguing and exciting match-ups.

There's a lot of contrast in styles in some of the fights and we can expect to see a lot of knockouts tomorrow night.

Besides the contrast of styles in the main event between Robbie Lawler and Jake Shields, we will get to see the Strikeforce debut of Andrei Arlovski and Kevin Randleman.

Fans are also anticipating the grudge match between Phil Baroni and Joe Riggs, as well as the match between Scott Smith and Nick Diaz.

There are a lot of former UFC fighters on the card so even the casual MMA fan is familiar with some of these fighters fighting tomorrow night.

Although Strikeforce is not as popular as the UFC, Strikeforce always seems to have the better fights and shows. When you watch a Strikeforce card, you can expect to see a lot of knockouts and submissions.

If you order a UFC pay-per-view, you are more likely than not to see more fights ending up in a decision than in a spectacular knockout or submission.

There will be no boring fights such as Sean Sherk vs Frank Edgar or Chael Sonnen vs Jim Miller on Saturday night at the Scottrade Center. You will see a lot of talented and exciting fighters with interesting personalities as well.

Randleman is one of the best fighters behind a microphone and Nick Diaz gets a huge crowd reaction wherever he goes. Arlovski is one of the most popular heavyweights in MMA.

I can't wait for the fights Saturday night because I know I will see action-packed fights and at least one electrifying knockout.

About Me

D Wizzle's World is filled with videos and interviews from the sports and entertainment world. D Wizzle's World's goal is to provide fans with excellent sports and entertainment coverage. D Wizzle has been mentioned on national radio stations and local and nationwide newspapers such as the Washington Post and KNBR 680.